Routine, the IOC's expert job? As in Tokyo, at the beginning of the month, the troop of the evaluation commission of the Olympic institution began its visit to Madrid, Monday March 18, by shaking hands at very high levels. Sir Craig Reedie, the president of the said commission, and his traveling companions were received by Mariano Rajoy, the head of the Spanish government. In Tokyo, they were welcomed by Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister.
As two weeks earlier, the IOC envoys heard the handful of Iberian leaders (Mariano Rajoy was accompanied by Ana Botella, mayor of the city, and Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee) assure them that Madrid was “ready to receive the Games in 2020." As in Tokyo, they listened religiously to their hosts repeating that the turn had come to grant the event to Spain, after two unsuccessful attempts (2012 and 2016).
As in Japan, they stretched their legs with a trip to some of the Olympic sites in Madrid. An inspection of the Madrid bullring, where the basketball tournament could be played. Then an extended detour to the Santiago-Bernabeu football stadium, always very popular with visitors, where Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, and Iker Casillas, his goalkeeper, awaited them. A good choice, if not original.
So far, few surprises. The unexpected came from where few people expected it. On this first day of the visit, the president of the Spanish Sports Council, Miguel Cardenal, uttered out loud the word that many whispered very quietly: doping. He put on the table, in full view of everyone, the subject considered to be a weak point of Madrid's candidacy. A risky maneuver, but ultimately skillful.
Manuel Cardenal assured, with a hand on his heart, that his country would adopt a more repressive anti-doping law before the vote in the host city of the 2020 Games, scheduled for September 7 in Buenos Aires. The law in question has already been approved by the Spanish government. It must now be voted on by the Assembly. Its principles: an expansion of the powers of the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency, an increase in financial sanctions in the event of an offense (up to €400), and the creation of a Court of Arbitration for Sport, one of whose sections would be specifically dedicated to the fight against cheating.
To win the prize, Madrid and Spain therefore promise to wash cleaner. It’s about time, the most skeptical might suggest. Without a doubt. But now is the perfect time to take the fight against doping seriously.
